BS-8419-1-2005.pdf

BRITISH STANDARD BS 8419-1:2005 Interoperability between metadata systems used for learning, education and training Part 1: Code of practice for the development of application profiles ICS 03.180 ? Licensed Copy: London South Bank University, London South Bank University, Fri Dec 08 00:47:58 GMT+00:00 2006, Uncontrolled Copy, (c) BSI BS 8419-1:2005 This British Standard was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 28 February 2005 © BSI 28 February 2005 The following BSI references relate to the work on this British Standard: Committee reference IST/43 Draft for comment 04/30067490 DC ISBN 0 580 45242 5 Committees responsible for this British Standard The preparation of this British Standard was entrusted to Technical Committee IST/43, Information technology for learning, education and training, upon which the following bodies were represented: Brass Bullet Limited British Educational Communications and Technology Agency British Educational Suppliers Association Cabinet Office (e-Government Unit, formerly called Office of the e-Envoy) Centre for Educational Technology Interoperability Standards (CETIS) Centrex NTC Department for Education and Skills Edexcel Limited Education and Learning Wales (ELWa) eLoki Limited FD Learning Limited Futurate Goal plc Granada Learning Harcourt Education Limited IMS Global Learning Consortium Learning and Skills Development Agency Oakleigh Consulting Limited Parity Pearson NCS UK Plato Learning (UK) Limited Publishers Association Qualifications and Curriculum Authority Question Mark Computing Limited Schemeta Scottish Ufi Limited Sheffield Hallam University Simulacra Media Limited Sun Microsystems Limited Support IT (UK) Limited Teknical Limited Telemetry Associates The Chalkface Project Limited The City and Guilds of London Institute The Connor Consultancy The Stationary Office The Training Foundation Thomson Prometric Ufi Limited University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate University of Glamorgan University of Leeds University of Sunderland Co-opted member The following bodies were also represented in the drafting of the standard: Centre for Interactive Assessment Development deBurca Echelon First Creative Limited Learning and Teaching Scotland Local Government Association Metier Microsoft Corporation Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (formerly called Resource) Nelson Thomes Limited Oracle UK Pearson Broadband Promisor Incorporated SNS Associates The Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment The Royal National College for the Blind UKOLN Amendments issued since publication Amd. No.DateComments Licensed Copy: London South Bank University, London South Bank University, Fri Dec 08 00:47:58 GMT+00:00 2006, Uncontrolled Copy, (c) BSI BS 8419-1:2005 © BSI 28 February 2005 i Contents Page Committees responsibleInside front cover Forewordii Introduction1 1Scope3 2Normative references3 3Terms and definitions3 4Purpose of application profiles8 5General principles for application profiles8 6Gathering requirements for an application profile9 7Identifying appropriate schemas12 8Selecting data elements for an application profile12 9Specifying rules for data elements13 10Implementing an application profile15 11Disclosing new data elements16 12Testing the conformance of a metadata instance to a metadata standard17 13Evaluating and refining an application profile18 Annex A (informative) Example use cases for an application profile Curriculum Online20 Annex B (informative) Standards and specifications21 Annex C (informative) Application profiles (UK and international)23 Annex D (informative) Taxonomies and vocabularies (UK and international)25 Annex E (informative) Expressing metadata schemas and application profiles26 Bibliography29 Figure 1 Tasks involved in developing an application profile and establishing interoperability2 Figure 2 The LOM aggregation model11 Table A.1 Examples of use cases for Curriculum Online20 Table B.1 Standards and specifications for learning resource application profiles that are in use in the UK21 Table C.1 Application profiles for learning resources that are in use in the UK23 Table D.1 Taxonomies and vocabularies that are in use in UK education, learning and training25 Licensed Copy: London South Bank University, London South Bank University, Fri Dec 08 00:47:58 GMT+00:00 2006, Uncontrolled Copy, (c) BSI BS 8419-1:2005 ii© BSI 28 February 2005 Foreword This British Standard code of practice has been prepared by Technical Committee IST/43, which comprises people with a wide experience of learning delivered using Information and Communications Technology (ICT), from a variety of different companies and organizations. BSI Committee IST/43, whose constitution is shown in this British Standard, takes collective responsibility for its preparation under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee. The Committee wishes to acknowledge the personal contribution of Ian Ibbotson, David Jennings, Gill Osguthorpe, Seb Schmoller and Neil Smith. BS 8419 consists of the following parts: Part 1: Code of practice for the development of application profiles; Part 2: Code of practice for the development of interoperability between application profiles. Part 1 of this British Standard provides recommendations for organizations that are creating application profiles of international metadata standards for use in relation to teaching and learning, focusing on the following two application profiles that are currently in use in the UK. The Dublin Core Metadata Initiatives (DCMIs) 1 Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (DCMES) described in BS ISO 15836. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEEs) 2 standard for Learning Object Metadata (LOM), IEEE 1484.12.1-2002. Part 2 provides recommendations for methodologies that will enable developers and implementers to maximize interoperability, focusing on how to make data transfer between metadata systems as automatic as possible. This British Standard exists alongside a number of relevant international and national frameworks and emerging standards pertaining to metadata and interoperability. These include: industry standards and specifications such as those issued by the IEEE, the IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS) or the DCMI; de facto technical standards such as those issued by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C); standards and specifications, such as the e-Government Metadata Standard (e-GMS) embraced within the e-Government Interoperability Framework (e-GIF). Although this standard is not specifically designed for metadata systems that store personal data, if you do store such information, the users attention is drawn to the Data Protection Act 1998 3, specifically the restrictions on the transfer of data between organizations. As a code of practice, this British Standard takes the form of guidance and recommendations. It should not be quoted as if it were a specification, and particular care should be taken to ensure that claims of compliance are not misleading. This publication does not purport to include all the necessary provisions of a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application. Compliance with a British Standard does not of itself confer immunity from legal obligations. Summary of pages This document comprises a front cover, an inside front cover, pages i and ii, pages 1 to 31 and a back cover. The BSI copyright notice displayed in this document indicates when the document was last issued. Licensed Copy: London South Bank University, London South Bank University, Fri Dec 08 00:47:58 GMT+00:00 2006, Uncontrolled Copy, (c) BSI BS 8419-1:2005 © BSI 28 February 2005 1 Introduction The education and learning market has been transformed in recent years by a number of factors, including: growth in the power and capabilities of ICT, which has led to increasing use of e-learning as a means of delivering and accessing learning, education, and training; increased diversity and complexity of courses and qualifications, and the introduction of complex job-specific competency frameworks; extensive digitization of library and cultural learning resources, thereby rendering these capable of deployment in e-learning; a variety of UK Government policy initiatives aimed at promoting lifelong learning and vocational training, and at expanding the use of ICT across the all levels and types of education and training. Within the context of learning, education and training, metadata is structured data used to describe the characteristics of a learning resource, a data object or a component of a learning technology system. Its effective creation, structuring and deployment is critical to: the cost-effective and smooth transfer of data between the ICT systems which are used in learning, education and training; the effective cataloguing, searching and retrieving of learning materials. The aim of this British Standard is therefore to provide guidance on the use of metadata standards and specifications for learning resources in the UK, to establish methods for creating profiles of these standards and specifications and to maximize the opportunities for interoperability with other profiles. The fulfilment of this aim will have benefits for a number of organizations and individuals, including: enhanced potential for systems and solution vendors to enable markets for their products and services, and the achievement of greater integration of content from multiple producers; more scope for producers of learning materials to exploit new markets and increase the potential for reuse of their content; simplification of accreditation processes and establishment of equivalencies between courses and qualifications by awarding and assessment bodies; ability for procurers of systems and content to avoid vendor lock-in, economize on content costs, and enable integration between systems; improved choice, and improved quality of learning-provision for learners; better facilities for teachers, and other learning, education and training practitioners, to search for and utilize learning resources described by different metadata schemas and profiles. The steps that are typically involved in developing an application profile and achieving system interoperability are shown in Figure 1. These steps reflect the relationship between Part 1 and Part 2 of this British Standard. Part 1 covers steps 1 to 8 and Part 2 covers steps 9 to 15. Licensed Copy: London South Bank University, London South Bank University, Fri Dec 08 00:47:58 GMT+00:00 2006, Uncontrolled Copy, (c) BSI BS 8419-1:2005 2© BSI 28 February 2005 This British Standard code of practice is intended for practitioners who develop and implement e-learning, e-learning content and e-learning systems, including (but not limited to): a) instructional designers, developers, publishers, and vendors of e-learning materials and qualifications; b) developers and vendors of software systems which are used in the design and delivery of e-learning and assessment; c) those with responsibility for procuring e-learning materials or software systems for e-learning and assessment. Figure 1 Tasks involved in developing an application profile and establishing interoperability Gather requirements for the application profile Identify appropriate schemas Select data elements Specify rules for data elements Implement application profile Disclose new data elements Test conformance of metadata Evaluate and refine application profile Establish requirements for interoperability Collect information about systems Specify interoperability criteria Map between schemas / application profiles Publish / share metadata Translate / aggregate metadata Implement rules for exception handling REVIEW REVIEW 1 215 3 4 5 6 7 89 10 11 12 13 14 Part 1 Steps 1 - 8 Part 2 Steps 9 - 15 Licensed Copy: London South Bank University, London South Bank University, Fri Dec 08 00:47:58 GMT+00:00 2006, Uncontrolled Copy, (c) BSI BS 8419-1:2005 © BSI 28 February 2005 3 1 Scope This British Standard gives recommendations for achieving interoperability between systems in learning, education and training. The standard provides guidance: a) on the development and reuse of application profiles; b) for the use of application profiles where interoperability is a requirement. Where application profiles are developed solely for local use, then this standard as a whole is not applicable although individual recommendations could still prove useful. The standard is applicable across all sectors and levels of learning, education and training. Whilst the requirements of different communities can lead to the development of different application profiles, the processes underlying the development will be common. The standard provides guidance on the reuse of the BS ISO 15836 Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (DCMES) developed by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) 1 and the IEEE 1484.12.1-2002 standard for Learning Object Metadata (LOM) developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Learning Object Metadata Working Group 2. The standard makes recommendations about encoding mechanisms (e.g. XML DTD, XML schema, RDF) for application profile bindings but does not mandate the use of any particular encoding mechanism. The standard does not provide mechanisms for evaluating or comparing the educational value of learning resources. The standard is intended to optimize, rather than completely remove, human interaction in the transfer of information between systems. 2 Normative references The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies. BS ISO 15836:2003, Information and documentation The Dublin Core metadata element set. IEEE 1484.12.1-2002, Standard for Learning Object Metadata. 3 Terms and definitions For the purposes of this part of BS 8419, the following terms and definitions apply. 3.1 aggregation model model that describes the grouping of learning objects by aggregation level NOTEAn aggregation model might, for example, include information on what constitutes an atomic learning object, and how atomic learning objects are aggregated with other atomic learning objects and other aggregations. 3.2 aggregation level functional granularity of a particular learning object IEEE 1484.12.1-2002 EXAMPLE An individual file or asset would have a very low level, a lesson slightly higher, and a course or set of courses higher still. 3.3 application profile schemas consisting of data elements drawn from one or more namespaces, combined together by implementers and optimized for a particular local application NOTEThe